Spoiler alert!
Nothing is wrong with him! Unless you consider Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce as being a problem.
Mecole was 3rd on the team in targets (62), rec yards (560), and rec TDs (4). Those stats are right in line with any other teams 3rd most productive receiver and none of those other teams had 2 guys that were 1st team AP in front of that guy.
Green Bay Packers #1 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Robert Tonyan - 59 targets, 52 rec, 586 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 212
Rec - 148
Yards - 2064
Buffalo Bills #2 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Gabriel Davis - 62 targets, 35 rec, 599 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 273
Rec - 209
Yards - 2502
Tampa Bay Buccaneers #3 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Rob Gronkowski - 77 targets, 45 rec, 623 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 193
Rec - 135
Yards - 1846
Tennessee Titans #4 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Jonnu Smith - 65 targets, 41 rec, 448 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 198
Rec - 135
Yards - 2059
New Orleans Saints #5 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Jared Cook - 60 targets, 37 rec, 504 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 189
Rec - 144
Yards - 1482
Baltimore Ravens #7 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Willie Snead - 48 targets, 33 rec, 432 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 188
Rec - 116
Yards - 1470
Seattle Seahawks #8 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
David Moore - 47 targets, 35 rec, 417 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 261
Rec - 183
Yards - 2357
Indianapolis Colts #9 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Michael Pittman Jr. - 61 targets, 40 rec, 503 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 164
Rec - 99
Yards - 1391
Las Vegas Raiders #10 ranked scoring offense
3rd most productive receiving option
Hunter Renfrow - 77 targets, 56 rec, 656 yds
Top 2 options
Targets - 227
Rec - 155
Yards - 2092
Average for top 10 scoring offense's 3rd most productive receiving option :
Targets - 62
Receptions - 41
Yards - 530
Average for top 10 scoring offense's top 2 most productive receiving options combined :
Targets - 212
Receptions - 147
Yards - 1918
This is how Hardman stacks up against the other teams 3rd receiving option
Targets - 62 (62 avg)
Receptions - 41 (41 avg)
Yards - 560 (530 avg)
Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce combined
Targets - 280 (most in group)
Receptions - 192 (2nd most in group)
Yards - 2692 (most in group)
So what we can see from these stats above is that nothing is up with Mecole Hardman. His targets and reception matched the average of the 9 other top offenses 3rd receiving option and he was above average in yards, but the big huge difference is Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill just happen to be on the same team as him. Those two have 68 more combined targets, 45 more combined receptions, and 774 more combined yards than the others teams top 2 receiving threats.
TLDR;
Nothing is wrong, he's right in line with the other teams 3rd most productive pass catchers. Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are monsters and the best pass catching duo in a long ass time.
PS:
Seriously Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are so good! There was only 11 QBs with more TD passes than those 2 had receiving TDs.
PSS:
Fucking Cam Newton started 15 games and had 45 less passing yards than Hill and Kelce had rec yards in the same amount of games!
PSSS:
Fucking MVP Lamar had 65 more passing yards than Hill and Kelce had rec yards and they tied for the same amount of passing TDs to receiving TDs.
[Reply]
If he worked hard this offseason, he can be a big time weapon for us.
His weaknesses are things that work can fix.
1) Getting off the line better. Using his quickness and hand speed to get off press. With his speed, if he can simply do this better, he’s goi g to break a lot of big plays because he can get fairly instant separation if he can beat press. His routes get majorly disrupted or just flat out walled off right at the line way too much up to this point.
2) Running a whole route tree. #1 will definitely help this one, but he needs to be able to diversify his routes to get on the field more. This is a big reason he didn’t get on the field and be productive more in this first 2 years. He needs to take the next step of not relying strictly on his speed to make plays. He needs to develop his quick twitch to explode in and out of his breaks more instead of rounding off his routes. A big part of this is his sight adjustments. He needs to be able to read what the defense is doing much faster and adjust his routes the way Pat is looking for him to. Sight adjustments are huge in Andy’s WCO.
3) “Keep running” dude just stops once he’s not initially open. That pissed everyone off as a rookie, and didn’t improve much last year. This offensive line is going to give Pat a lot of time to find the open man and with Pats ability to improvise and keep the play alive, Mecole has a chance to make a ton of explosive plays when Pat has 3-5 seconds to find the open man. He just needs to be better prepared to know where to go to give Pat a target to hit after his initial route is convered.
…
Honestly, I think most of Mecoles weaknesses are things that can become strengths if he puts in the work both mental and physical.
[Reply]